Tony's 10 Metre Band Report
06 September 2006

Now I’m back home I will hopefully be able to give more full reports. I have had some reports whilst I have been away, so let's deal with those first.

Brian, G8VPR, heard SA0ABE 5/9, HA8IE 5/9, OK1BYR 5/9, and IZ7GGF 5/9 on 31st August. He also notes that 6m was open at the same time. Thanks for that Brian reports no matter how short are always welcome.

Martin, CX9DX, (nice call sign) says that he was active on 10m on Friday.

G0SKB Paul, sends in a poem. I’m not so sure about the rhyme or the scan but here it is anyway.

HEY TONY WHERE DID YOU GO
FROM THE WEBSITE I DID TOO AND FRO
DAYS WENT BY STRECHING INTO WEEKS
MY 10M GEAR I KNOW I HAD TO TWEAK
NO REPORTS, I WAS LOST
WHAT WOULD BE THE FINAL COST
LOTS ON TEN THEN IT FADES AWAY
I'LL KEEP CHECKING THE WEBSITE DAY BY DAY

Thanks Paul but don’t give up the day job.

On a more serious note Alan, VK2ACN, says.”I notice you heard my callsign on Sunday 8 June 2006, I have not been on air for some years now so it must have been a fake. Regards Alan”.

I hope it was just a typo or a mis-heard call and not a fake or pirate. But even if you’re not active on the RF side of things Alan, thanks for reading the column and the info. If I come across your call again, I will contact you directly so that you can take some action with the Australian Authorities.

Scott, VK4CZ, on the other hand, continues the subject of a 10m calling frequency.
“Your comments about 28.490 are of interest... although I’m not going to agree whole heartedly as this has become as result of behaviour and not in the interests of all operators of the 10m band!

"The topic of establishing a recognised 10m (28MHz) domestic calling freq has been raging in VK for a while.  Whilst the VK debate was fuelled by many good intentions, a solution of 28.490 was being promoted by ops who had little experience of 10m at solar maxima, nor had they investigated the existing conventions around spot freqs within the DX window (recognised DXpediation and IOTA QRG, etc).

"As such the debate was taken to our peak representative body, the WIA, and both sides of the argument aired. The result a solution that satisfied the needs of domestic traffic and the broader interests of the DX community. This is shown in the following news item from the WIA".

A new 28 MHz calling frequency
Following dialogue with Australian 28 MHz operators, the WIA has allocated a suggested 28 MHz national calling frequency of 28390 kHz.

"We received good feedback to our request for a suitable frequency" WIA Director, Glenn Dunstan VK4DU said.

"The new frequency, which is outside of the DX segment of the band, will provide a focal point for VK 28 MHz operations" Glenn said.”” I cannot disagree. Whether 28.390 MHz will gain sufficient publicity and acceptance and more importantly actual useage, remains to be seen. I will use it to call but still keep checking 28.490 MHz.

Andrew, 9V1AA (and VR2ZAL) is maybe slightly confused about the reports I give. Unless I specifically say I have worked a station then the callsigns are those of stations reported to me as being active on the days indicated. Hopefully that clears things up Andrew, you are of course quite right we did not have a QSO.

SM2M, Per, worked loads on Thursday 3rd August.
“7S2E 59, SM2CKR 59, SM2YIZ 59, OZ1GX 55, SM6X 59, OZ8SA 59, OZ8FU 55, SM2ODB 59, OZ9QQ 59, SM5INC 55, SM2HWG 59, OZ2PBS 59, UX6IA 59, SM2DR 59, SM1W 55, SK4UW 55, OZ3BEN 59, SP4CUF 59, SI6B/P 59, SA1A 59, SM2YSW 59, SF7WT 59, SM1CIO 59, YL2PP 59, DL9EE 59, SP5ECC 59, RU1MQ 59, SQ4DEE 59, OH1JO 59, US6IVB 59, OH6UK 59, LY2IC 59, RX3AGD 59, OK1UNL/P 59, MM0GPZ 59, SQ3AUA 59, DC1NNN 59.
NAC 10m SSB every 1st Thursday of Month 17-18z summer 18-19z Winter.” So now you know.

PY2ZY, Muniz, heard py7mrt 5/5 and says that there was low propagation and bad conditions. Yes, well I think we would all agree with that at times.

Next: The past few days activity with the most contacted DX.

Friday: YY5EAH, PY5YA, CX1AV, CE3PG
Saturday: PY5YA, YY5EAH, YB1YG, V55O/P, CX1AV, CE3PG, T88DB, LU5FCI, IU1DCI, HR2AHC, EB3EPR.
Sunday: T88DB, YB0ZZ, V55O/P, VQ9JK, 9M6BRC, YC2TWL, YB1YG, UT9MZ/P, SV2DFA, S57S, EB3EPR, DK0OG/P, 9M2IDJ.

Also reported as active over this period were Chinese stations, BD1DRJ and BD7JLR.

Contests:
Europe’s big contest WAE DX( with added QTCs!!) 00:00 Saturday to 24:00 Sunday. So all you VKs and Ws get up early or stay up late and work Europe. Oh and don’t forget the NAC Activity contest this Thursday.

Sun: The sun is totally blank to day apart from the bright yellowy stuff called plasma.

Exactly as planned, Europe's SMART-1 spacecraft crashed into the Moon on Sept. 3rd at 0542 UT. The resulting flash was too faint for most backyard telescopes, but a team of astronomers using the big 3.6-meter CFH telescope in Hawaii did photograph the explosion:

The flash in this animation is an infrared flash. It shows heat generated by the spacecraft's 4500 mph impact into the lunar surface near the edge of Lacus Excellentiae (34.4 S, 46.2 W).